Alabama map

Where Alabama is

Alabama sits in the Deep South between Mississippi and Georgia. It measures about 330 miles north to south and about 190 miles east to west at its widest. Tennessee lies to the north along a straight surveyed line, Georgia to the east across the Chattahoochee River in the south and a surveyed line farther north, Florida to the south (the Florida Panhandle wraps under the whole state, leaving Alabama only a short Gulf frontage around Mobile Bay), and Mississippi to the west. The southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains runs into the northeast of the state; the rest is coastal plain that slopes gently to the Gulf.

Major cities

Geography

• Cheaha Mountain — the highest point at 2,407 feet, in the Talladega Mountains at the southern end of the Appalachians.
• Tennessee River — loops through northern Alabama past Huntsville, Decatur and Florence, impounded as Lake Guntersville, Wheeler Lake and Wilson Lake.
• Alabama and Tombigbee rivers — the two main southward rivers join north of Mobile to form the Mobile River, which empties into Mobile Bay.
• Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers — meet near Montgomery to form the Alabama River; the Chattahoochee marks the southern half of the Georgia border.
• Gulf Coast — about 53 miles of general coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, including Mobile Bay, Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores. The lowest point is sea level.
• Black Belt — a crescent of dark, fertile prairie soil across the centre of the state, south of Birmingham and around Selma and Montgomery.

Borders

Only two stretches of Alabama's border are natural. The Chattahoochee River forms the Georgia line from the Florida corner north to just above Phenix City, and the Perdido River separates Alabama from Florida for the last 60 miles to the Gulf. Everything else is surveyed: the Tennessee border follows a line close to the 35th parallel, the Mississippi border is a line running south from the Tennessee River to the 31st parallel, and the long Florida border runs along the 31st parallel from the Perdido to the Chattahoochee.

Regions of Alabama

North Alabama (the Tennessee Valley around Huntsville and Decatur, and the Appalachian foothills), Central Alabama (Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and the Black Belt around Montgomery and Selma), the Wiregrass in the southeast around Dothan, and the Gulf Coast around Mobile and Baldwin County. The northeast corner, with Cheaha Mountain and Lookout Mountain, is often called the Alabama Appalachians.

Related maps

• Alabama county map — all 67 counties with seats.
• Blank Alabama map — outline for printing.
• Printable Alabama map.
• Montgomery — the capital on the Alabama River, and the second Confederate capital.
• Neighbors: Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi.
• Region: South · East South Central · Southeast · Gulf Coast.
• Time zone: Central.
• Geography: Appalachian Mountains, Gulf of Mexico, US rivers.